How can old Joe be a conservative Jew and still vote in favor of abortion?
He used to try to pass himself off as "orthodox", then when he got called on that, he switched to calling himself "observant."
The same reason so many vote Dem in spite of their sellout of Israel. Liberalism and party trump religion and morals.
I recall reading a very insightful post on FR a few months ago (maybe longer ago than that) about various religions and their stances on abortion. At least according to that source, in Judaism a fetus is not considered a life. Of course, it could be different for an Orthodox like Lieberman, so who knows.
"How can old Joe be a conservative Jew and still vote in favor of abortion?"
The same way Kennedy, Kerry and Rudy favor abortion and have been divorced and still consider themselves Catholic.
He is not a conservative Jew, not much of a human being either. Anyone should be able to tell that abortion is murder! Children are precious blessings, do not get pregnant if you can not love them.
The Democratic Party today simply will not allow any of its candidates to be truly pro-life. It's an automatic DQ. So, people like Joe rationalize it in their own minds, but always vote the way the Party says.
My prediction is that the alleged "pro-life" Democrats, Casey in PA and Ritter in Colorado will come out exactly the same way; there won't be a single pro-life bill they can support, for any number of "dog ate my homework" explanations.
Another link on the Jewish view of abortion can be found at:
http://www.jewfaq.org/sex.htm#Abortion
I found it enlightening to understand the Jewish perspective. From reading it and some of the other refs posted in this thread, I cans see why Jewish voters would reject the "Jerry Falwell" approach in forcing a total ban on all abortion and then educate people about the morality of it after the fact.
However, what I don't understand is how a religious Jew, Christian, Mormon, or whatever can support the modern-day Democrat party. When I was a kid, my grandfather was a boilermake in a Naval shipyard. He was the union steward for the boilermaker shop. His political view was that "the Republicans are for the fat cats and the Democrats are for the common man." Many traditional Democrats still hold to that, which explains why Zell Miller still hangs in there.
That Democrat party doesn't exist anymore. Today, the Democrat party is simply a granola-like collection of flakes, fruits and nuts. They form a coalition of race-baiters, those who would perpetuate a dependent welfare class, gays, liberal feminists, humanists, anti-God civil libertarians, and socialist-leaning globalists. The defining common thread among them is the rejection of religious morality and acceptance of a humanistic relativism.
My question is: What holds religious Jews and African-American churches in that coalition? I can see how Episcopalians, Unitarians, et. al. can function in that kind of system, because their fundamental doctrines are always under revision. Jewish teachings have been codified for 4000 years. How they can align themselves with those who actively seek to diminish the authority, relevance, and influence of their teachings is a mystery to me.
Although I tend to vote Republican, I take it from the perspective that Christ said to "make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness." Republicans, at their most fundamental, are about being free and prosperous. The Reagan years brought in a wave of social conservatives, but at its core, Republicans are all about mammon. That isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as one seeks the kingdom of God first. However, sustaining and supporting those who actively seek to undermine God's influence in society seems, to me, to be an unacceptable choice. That's pretty much what the Democrat party is all about in our day.